Sunday, March 18, 2007

Dayton had his surgery and he is progressing nicely. John and I kept saying to each other how odd he acted after the surgery and it seemed to be getting worse. I talked to the doctor about the symptoms, and basically the pains meds were making him hallucinate...poor dog, and I kept giving him more. So no more of that medication and personality wise he is almost back to normal. Last night I noticed the incision area was turning a little yellow, and was oozing. He is on antibiotics, but it definitely looks infected. I have been cleaning and medicating it, excellent nursing experience! I must say he is a great patient.

John's grandfather passed away about 2 weeks ago and his family asked me to sing at the funeral. I have never sang at a funeral before, so it was an experience. I was honored to sing at such a great man's funeral.

On the singing note, I was asked to be the "Stampede Leader" at VBS. Basically, I will be leading all the songs at the opening and closing, going over the announcements, and the daily Bible verse. I am excited and nervous. I am glad I am at a church that I can use my gift. I hope that everyone will pray for me to have a heart more like a child's and that I can let lose and enjoy this experience.

School is going great, so are my grades. I am enjoying going to school and hating going to work...hint hint John. Just kidding, love you. I am ready to get in to the nursing part of it.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Dayton, John and I's dog, has always had issues with his right hind leg. He was born with a twisted femur, which we didn't discover until he was about 9 months old, when he was misdiagnosed with a torn ACL. Due to the twisted femur everything is out of alignment. His hipbone is now partially popped out of place, he has arthritis in that knee and hip, and has inflamation almost constantly. We sent all his x-rays to a Radiologist in Colorado to get his recommendations. He recommended Dayton getting a complete hip replacement with a derotational osteotomy. John and I decided we didn't want Dayton to go through the surgery, but opted to manage his pain with pain medication and anti-inflamatories. That was until yesterday. We were outside playing fetch and he let out a horrific scream, not yelp, but scream. He wouldn't put any weight on his leg. We immediatley went to the vet. I knew in my heart he had torn his cruciate ligament and the vet confirmed it. Not good news for a dog, ecspecially with Dayton's conditions. So John and I are torn, we can't afford the hip replacement, derotational osteotomy, and knee surgery--I am estimating the surgeries to be around $5000-7000, plus there is no guarantee this will eleviate the pain. John and I had come to the conclusion we would euthanize Dayton, so he wouldn't have to go through anymore pain. This was such a difficult decision for us; it broke out hearts. He is only 2, we never imagined having to make this decision so early. I made an appointment to discuss this with the vet and make sure we had gone over every option. She did give us another option, we could remove his leg. This is an expensive surgery, but this will rid him of all his pain, and they can do the surgery at the vet hospital I work at, with doctors I completely trust. He has to lose 10 pounds, but we can do it together! I hope everything works out, I love my Dayton. Dog lovers keep Dayton in your prayers! I just found out that the doctors are giving us 75% of the surgery, so we scheduled next Thursday.Other good news, school is going great. Test scores are ecspecially great.